Extracts of muscle from patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis enhance neurite outgrowth from ventral spinal cord explants of rat embryo.

The effects of muscle extracts from normal controls and patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) on neurite appearance in ventral spinal cord explants of 13-15-day-old Sprague-Dawley rats were investigated. Muscle extracts from normal controls and ALS muscle were significantly more effective in stimulating growth than control medium alone. There was no statistically significant difference between normal muscle extracts and ALS muscle extracts in growth of neurties. Our results may contribute to the hypothesis that ALS may be a disorder of motor neuron growth factors.